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| Thread ID: 35781 | 2003-07-21 08:43:00 | CDRW recommendations | supergran (108) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 161815 | 2003-07-21 08:43:00 | I am looking at replacing a very sick cd drive with a BTC 5224IM 52x24x52x CD Writer for $99 or a MSI with the same speeds. The BTC one has a 2mb buffer, but not sure what the MSI has but it is the same price as the other. I run old hardware, 500 with 192 ram, on a Windows 98SE puter and was wondering if anyone has any ideas on which to go for. And is it easy to install, as one shop says $25 and the other quotes $45 before gst. I won't touch the insides of my puter, but a brother in law says it shouldn't be too hard. Any opinions appreciated. | supergran (108) | ||
| 161816 | 2003-07-21 08:58:00 | grab a ASUS or LG cd writer in my opinion there the best money can buy, and are generally not too expensive. For example OEM Computers in Manakau have a retail ASUS 52x24x52 for $99. www.asus.com For the same price as the BTC drive this one is hands down better. MSI make good video cards but i have never tryed one of their CD-RW's, i heard a rumor a while back that their drives are just rebadged Lite-On drives, if this is the case then a MSI maybe worth considering as Lite-On has developed a reputation over the years as being good value for money. As far as installing the CD-RW it not all that hard, and along with RAM upgrades would have to be one of the easist upgrades. All that is involved is unscrewing the original optical drive, unplug the power, and the IDE ribbon cable. Mount the new drive where the old drive was, screw it in. Then plug in the power and IDE ribbon cables that you pulled out of the old drive. The only problems can come when setting the drive as Master or Slave, but since you are replacing a drive just mimic the jumper settings on the back of the original drive. |
Pete O'Neil (250) | ||
| 161817 | 2003-07-21 09:26:00 | Personally i would take an asus over a btc as well but i would be interested in why the asus is "hands down better". | metla (154) | ||
| 161818 | 2003-07-21 09:31:00 | Thanks for your opinions, and also the way to install. Gives me something to think about, and also to ask my puter man with the MSI about what exactly it is. | supergran (108) | ||
| 161819 | 2003-07-21 10:17:00 | i would buy LG, pioneer or samsung cd-rw drives if i was u. Rite now i have an LG cdrw on my old comp and a samsung on my new comp. Both work really well and i have had no problem using them. cheers, v.K |
vk_dre (195) | ||
| 161820 | 2003-07-21 10:24:00 | To sum up; price is only 1/2 of the equation. You really need to find out if your burner is a "2 sheep burner". This may seem weird, but 2 sheep buners are the best drives you can get. People mostly get them for backups of games etc as they can correctly EFM encode. Meaning they can correctly write regular bit patterns for greater accuracy. So go find out the model number of the drive you are looking at, and then head along to here (www.elby.ch) to determine if its a good enough burner. You're looking for 4 coloured icons total. If your drive is also a dvd-rom/cd-rw all the better. But if you're not interested in quality & accurate burning then by all means get a cheap hunk of junk ;) |
PoWa (203) | ||
| 161821 | 2003-07-21 10:35:00 | And I thought Plexor were the Rolls Royce of CDW | Rod ger (316) | ||
| 161822 | 2003-07-21 10:41:00 | this is just my personal opinion and stem from my experience with different brands of hardware. ASUS make some of the best motherboards avaiable and have the reputation for good customer service. I have read several optical drive comparison and with exception to the Plexi Writers ASUS drives constantly come out on top. Now this may only be by a few points that might not make a difference to the average user to me it counts and i want my moneys worth when purchasigna product. On the other had i've heard very little about BTC drives and have no idea of what they are like in terms of quality or prefromance. It is for these reason i reckonmend a ASUS drive for the same price they offer quality and preformance and the buyer can rest asure they are buy a top of the line drive | Pete O'Neil (250) | ||
| 161823 | 2003-07-21 11:00:00 | I have installed around a dozen BTC cdrw over the last six months and have had no complaints about any of them. They burn as well as any brand in everyday mundane burning tasks. Having said that, they have lost the price advantage they once had. Asus/Aopen/LG /Liteon/Samsung are all good choices. Personally I prefer Aopen or LG. | the highlander (245) | ||
| 161824 | 2003-07-21 11:05:00 | From the reviews ive read the plexi writers now offer far less then other manufactures, Granted i base that on a comparison test published a year or so on toms hardware, and the plexi drives in that case came last by a longshot. Anyway, Back to the btc,i have one and after being stuck with it for a couple years i wouldn't recommend one, although mine may be just a bad example. Pos has trouble recognising when a cd is inserted and repeatedly spits them out or ignores them, forcing me to use force to ram the draw closed and use my finger nail to wiggle the draw after ive closed it until i hear it spin up...then and only then does it find and read the disc. Having said that, she’s still running sweet and ive never heard anyone else with this problem on this particular drive so i presume its an isolated case and not a widespread defect. And, I have been able to copy every cd i ever attempted to copy, but that has as much to do with proper research as it does with hardware, the best drive in the world wont cut the mustard if not backed up with the correct software. |
metla (154) | ||
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